About last night …

It’s all Carey Price’s fault.
After the Canadiens beat Winnipeg 5-1 in the renascent Jets’ first home game on Oct. 9, Price said:
“The most important thing is to get the win, but it was extra sweet to come in and spoil their party.”

Price injured his team’s karma, which has been listed as day-to-day for the 16 days since.

That win in Winnipeg that Price gloated about was the Canadiens first of the season and evened their record at 1-1.

It was 99th regular-season win of Price’s career.

Since telling the world how glad he was to rain on Winnipeg’s parade, Price has had five chances to win his 100th game.

It hasn’t happened.

And with Peter Budaj filling in – admirably – against Florida, Price’s team ran its record to six losses since the visit to Winnipeg.

Worse five of the losses have come on home ice.

In their entire frequently-glorious history, your Montreal Canadiens have never lost five home games to start a season.

Never … in 102 freakin’ years.

And Florida’s win means the Canadiens have lost five of the six games they’ve played against teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season.

Philadelphia, which is at the Bell Centre Wednesday night, was a playoff team last spring.

Boston, where the Canadiens travel on Thursday before the Bruins return the visit Saturday night, won the Stanley Cup.

In attempting to snap a six-game losing streak, the Canadiens are about to face two Eastern Conference powerhouses.

The New York Rangers made the playoffs with 93 points last season. To match that total, the Canadiens need 89 points from their remaining 74 games.

Do-able but difficult … especially in an Eastern Conference where several non-playoff teams, including the Panthers, have improved.

I thought Florida played in the image of their coach Monday night. Kevin Dineen was a hard-nosed, 110-per center throughout an NHL career that produced 378 regular-season and playoff goals and almost 2,400 minutes in penalties.

The Panthers worked hard, battled for every loose puck and got spectacular goaltending.

Against a team that hasn’t caught a break in weeks, that was enough.

So what do the Canadiens do now?

Price could make amends to Winnipeg fans by tanking a game, but the Canadiens aren’t back there until three days before Christmas.

They could fire Jacques Martin, an idea that never bubbles too far beneath the scum-slicked surface of the Commentariat and beyond.

But while sharpening your pitchfork and firing up the torch, pause to ask yourself:

Are the Canadiens playing like a team that has quit on their coach?

They outshot Florida 41-31 and outchanced them 13-7.

Supposedly a team whose offensive talent is being stifled by Jacques Martin’s system, the Canadiens are third in the NHL in shots on goal, trailing only Pittsburgh and Boston … and they’ve played two fewer games than the Penguins.

The Canadiens have three forward lines capable of scoring goals – a happy state of affairs jeopardized by Max Pacioretty’s injury.

Wouldn’t it just typify this team’s luck if Max-Pac were unable to play in either of the games against Boston?

The Canadiens are 14th in shots-against – and there are issues, notably on the penalty-kill. A team strength last season, the PK is 20th in the league. Florida had a power-play during which the Panthers kept the puck in the Canadiens zone for a full 1:40 off the faceoff.

One explanation is overuse of Tomas Plekanec, Josh Gorges and Hal Gill on the PK. They were run ragged by Florida’s puck movement. And Michael Cammalleri, who is hardly a PK specialist, made a clearing attempt that turned into Florida’s first goal.

Every error the Canadiens make seems to end up in the back of their net.

That’s the way the puck bounces when a team is slumping … and this slump is turning into a doozy.

The Canadiens are 29th in the NHL. Nashville and Columbus are winless at home, but neither has played as many games on home ice as the Canadiens.

It’s going for 2 a.m.

I have no theories on why the greatest franchise in hockey history is plumbing the depths of suckitude.

This is in response to Slychard’s earlier comment about AK discussing tactics on the bench (it was Moen, not Eller). I remember listening to the Team 990 a couple years ago when JM had just taken over. I believe it was during a western roadtrip early in the year where JM demoted AK to the 4th line and maybe even scratched him. Pierre McGuire did a game between the benches for TSN and he was telling Mitch Melnyk how AK was unbelievably vocal and helpful to the Hamilton callups he was playing with. He said he wished the fans could have seen it so they could lay off the guy. Was really interesting stuff to hear.

Can we bring back captain Kirk? Seriously he was the heart and soul of the coaching staff. He was listened to by the players and respected by them. Every time the last few years when time out was called or Habs needed a big goal he was the man that got involved, set up the play while jm would stand in the back ground. He knows hockey, he loves hockey, he bleeds hockey and he is the type of coach we need!

For those of you ragging on PG, think back to the beginning of the season, and how confident you felt about the team. Honestly. Without the benefit of hindsight.

I felt pretty good, with Markov coming back, paired with PK, Gorges and Spacek, and Gill and Emelin, with Weber and Diaz as extras.

When PG let Hammer go, he had 4 veteran D-men, a sophomore, a proven KHLer and a couple of rooks. At the time, it looked good to me too. I would rather have seen Spacek walk than Hammer, but the reality of the situation is different than in the Land of Wouldalikes.

Markov’s injury proved to take longer to recover from than people had thought, Spacek got injured, and PK got a baaaad case of Sophomoritis. Add that to Emelin’s aenemic camp, and you’ve got the D we have today. PG did the only thing he could do, he signed a good FA, who immediately got injured. D’oh!!

Now don’t take this to mean that I am supporting everything that PG does and has done, but as far as the D goes, at the season’s beginning, I was feeling pretty positive.

I like Gauthier, he seems like a good ‘hockey’ guy who knows his stuff BUT why does he continue to let his team get pushed around and NOT do anything about addressing the size and/or grit??

Ever since Boston PUMMELED and EMBARRASSED the Canadiens’ players, organization and fan base last season in that 7-0 BEATDOWN, Gauthier did absolutely zilch to rectify the situation, I mean WHAT THE F***???

How come Chicago, Vancouver and others can dump their high salaried stiffs but Goats can’t free us of Gomez’s contract??

How come Toronto and Ottawa can go get sandpaper and faceoff help but Goats doesn’t??

Cole is sandpaper and Blair Betts was supposed to be both sandpaper and faceoff help. I’m certain he tried to dump Gomez but couldn’t find anyone to replace him. Giguère and Turco ask for more money then Budaj and Théodore still thinks he’s a starter.

I haven’t been wowed by anything Gauthier did so far (although Wisniewski was a great find last year) but he hasn’t been GM here for very long and he’s been extremely unlucky on the injury front. It seems like every time he could improve the team, someone gets injured and he has to find an emergency replacement.

You have to be joking that anyone should have been impressed with PG. The Cole signing was ridiculous. Cole has chemistry with one player who happens to still be in North Carollina. A four year $18 million deal for a guy to stick on the third line is a joke.

PG needed a center but missed getting Carter, Richards and Richards. He didn’t even have a full roster two days before the season started. Think about how many defensemen left and how many were signed. Markov’s injury should have been anticipated. Spacek’s age was not hard to calculate. Taking away Sopel, Wiz, Hammer and replacing them with a last minute free agent was disastrous.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. Any team that spends to the cap but cannot skate 18 NHL ready players is run by a fool.

Posting to one another the same talking points?? Does it get a rather mundane?? Nothing new here. Habs another bad loss. Team looked lathargic when the fell behind. Problem there is leadership….on the ice and behind the bench.

Shots on goal are nice, as they ellude to the fact that the team was actually doing something. I was at the game last night, and I couldnt believe the habs took 40 shots. What a generous scorekeeper.

Markstrom made a couple of nice saves, but overall, the habs didnt move him around from side to side, they shot right at him, and couldnt lift the puck to save their life. Markstrom was actually giving up a lot of juicy rebounds, but there was no established net presence to cash in on them. Outside of a couple of goal mouth scrambles, Markstrom had a pretty easy night. At least 10 shots on markstrom i would say came from outside the panthers blueline (I dont have the exact stat, but it seemed that way).

The boys packed it in after the first florida goal, and were just going through the motions for the rest of the game.

Best player on the ice last night for the habs: Eric Cole. He showed that he wants to be a key player for this team.

Worst player(s) on the ice last night for the habs: Cammy, Pleks and Gionta. They were absolutely terrible and barely noticeable. Not what you are looking for from your best players.

A little girl vomitted on me and my buddy during the first period.
The Zone Molson cheerleader we had was clueless about hockey, and annoying most of the time.
Drunkards were extremely moronic too.
But apart from that I liked the experience, had a good view of the game and I’d definately go again, just not in the Molson zone.

I usually have a pretty good time in the Molson Ex Zone, but then again, I’m probably one of the drunkards.
The girls aren’t supposed to have any idea about hockey – that’s why they are able to sit with their back to the game. They are, however, easier to look at than the Habs PP.

Well that’s another issue, her tight blue pants were quite the distraction, seeing as I was in the seat next to the aisle she was always yelling in my ears as well. She would ask me questions about the game, trying to understand, so at least I’ll give her that.

I don’t mind drunks, or loud people, but those guys were always standing up and moving in the rows, and if you block my view of the game, well you suck!
They were also yelling that they wanted Budaj, but he was in nets already, so I don’t know.
Someone told me to go fuck myself, I guess they did not like my Amon Amarth hockey jersey.

The fact that line was the worst speaks Volumes. This team has to find another big center Eller or bigger with higher skill/points value. That is the #1 grocery on my shopping list, but my list is longer each day. No more shopping at the deli counter for those fancy little sandwiches which have no crust around them. I like crust.

Maybe there should be a D, None of the above.
But I’ll choose B, because that’s just the way it goes. The GM will wait as long as he can, but if he smells his own arse roasting on the spit he will cut loose his coach very quickly, hoping the new guy saves his ass.

I know you have problems with Gauthier, and you have some valid points. But I don’t put any of this year’s mess on him. With the ridiculous number of injuries (and ongoing), he’s done as best as he could. The only way he could make a real splash would be to package some very important assets. I really don’t want to see that at this point.

Well you can see that Gauthiers mandate is not to win the stanley cup, its to ice a playoff team each and every year. Even if we just squeak into the playoffs. Thats the only way all of these patch and band-aid solutions he keeps coming up with make any sense.

As for injuries, we arent THAT injured. Gomez is bad when hes healthy, Markov hasnt played for us for two years, and Campoli doesnt count either because he never played a regular season game for us.

The Penguins have REAL injuries, and they just seem to keep chugging along no problem. Thats the difference a GREAT coach makes.

THe GM did not provide the coach with a sufficient number of NHL ready players. Seven skaters who suited up for Montreal in the playoffs last year were not on the 2011 opening night roster. But Montreal added only two free agents, of whom one is injured.

The coach is not preparing the players. There are breakdowns in front of the net, players do not know who is in goal for the opposition, they do not know when to go on the ice. The coach has no sense of urgency.

The solution is to hold tight and wait for a good GM to become available in the off season. The Molsons have to decide if they want to go for a Stanley Cup in four years and rebuild or try to be a playoff team each year and trade the future to sustain it.

At a point last night, the habs had 4 players on the ice….with no one in the box for either team. I guess it was a change from having too many men, but i mean, is it that hard to have 5 skaters on the ice?

MArkstrom played very well last night. As for JM, have never been a fan and will never be a fan. This man will never get us a cup, except from Tims.
His style is archaic at best.

I am a coach, and if I coached with all the enthusiasm of JM my guys would lose every game. Players ned that boost of energy. JM’s ho hum attitude and lack of passion for the game, is killing the spirit of hockey in Montreal

according to sources Kirk left montreal because they would never offer him the coaching position as long as he did not speak the local lingo. Sad in this day and age! IF that is what HABS fans want, then settle for a mediocre team. The upper management has to decide if they want a winning team or a media friendly team. They won’t have both. In my opinion if the HABS win the francophone fans won’t give a damn if the coach does not speak french.

Martin, he does not seem to know how to use his players to the best of their ability.
Cammy on the PK? No, keep his energies for the PP, please.
Important faceoff? Don’t use Eller or DD, they just cannot get wins consistently, that new guy Nikolainen I think he was 100% on the dot, and Plekanec was 60%, use them in important faceoffs.
At least Cole got some PP time, and scored his first one, I liked what I saw from him last night, hopefully he can continue to develop confidence.
I ragged on Spacek yesterday, but he did not seem too bad.
Weber was the most used Dmen on the Habs squad last night, I like the player, but he is far from a top defenceman.
Bah humbug.

There definately seemed to have blown calls, or early whistles that disallowed a goal from the Habs as well, but still, gotta win some games no matter what.
You can spin a yarn for as long as you want, but if you don’t get the points, does not do anything for the team.

Cole has cranked it up a few notches the last couple of games. Hope he continues that, especially if Pacs is out for awhile. And hey, I noticed JM had Darche out there with Cole sometimes last night. So it’s nice to see JM is looking out for Cole and having him properly tutored. ;]

Since the conference format was introduced every team that won the Cup was top 5 over-all save 3 who were top 10. The teams:
1995 Devils at 9th in a shortened lockout year.
The Penguins at 8th a few years ago and a year after they made the finals and finished top 5.
Bruins lat year when the difference between 2nd overall and 8th was 4 points.

There should be very little criticism of any players this morning. The guys played a hard and determined game, but couldn’t get the puck past the Florida goaltender, who played a very good game. Our guy between the pipes was not too shabby either, although I would hope nobody on here today is ready to annoint him as the next Halak.

Bad bounces and other unlucky breaks (blown calls) are going to hurt one of the two teams in a tight game like that one last night, and it turned out to be the Habs on the recieving end of that last night. I didn’t see any player who was not working hard trying to get the win. And hopefully, whatever injury Pacioretty recieved is a minor one.

Turning to the coach….I didn’t notice any glaring things last night, except for maybe just one. Habs have the goalie pulled, and Florida takes a penalty, setting up a two-man advantage to try to even the score and send the game to overtime. There’s a break. A time-out I expect, although I’m not sure who called it. Difficult to tell when watching the telecast in French and not understanding enough of the language. Anyway, the players are gathered in front of the bench and they are discussing amongst themselves what the plan should be. Martin is fidgeting with his notepad, seemingly trying hard not to make any eye contact with the players, and definitely not adding any input into whatever the “play” is going to be. The assistants appeared to be at their respective ends of the benches, also adding nothing to the plan. Now, I know the angle of the TV camera doesn’t show the entire bench, nor do you pick up any audio of the bench conversation, but the whole thing looked absurd to me. You look back in your mind to the last few years, and you see Kirk Muller right down there amidst the players gesturing and diagramming what they should do. Where is that this year? If Martin is “above” that sort of thing, then which assistant should be doing it? Certainly someone should. It may seem like a small thing to many, but to me it really demonstrates a black hole on the bench, and it’s sucking the development of the young players down the drain. Martin’s body language is horrible to a player. It gives one the impression that he is not at all comfortable with the little details of running the bench, or with conveying direction to the players during a game. I don’t have the luxury of seeing this team during practice, so I don’t know the interaction of the players and coaches during those crucial hours they spend together, but what I see on the bench during a game really puzzles me.

And just one little chuckle……am I the only one who heard JM mutter “F*&%” under his breath when they announced the PP goal changed to Cole instead of Pacs? LOL

I noticed that too… Subban seemed to be doing more talking than Martin!

When Muller left in the off-season, I knew our power play would be in trouble. Since the days of Souray, the Habs’ bread and butter has been the PP. If the PP doesn’t work, we don’t win, period. To have a two-man advantage in the final minutes was a golden opportunity and they couldn’t capitalize… again!

“There’s genius everywhere, but until they turn pro, it’s like popcorn in the pan. Some pop… some don’t.”
– Jerry Maguire

The one thing that stuck out to me was on quite a few occasions there were faceoffs in the offensive and defensive zone. JM had guys who were getting killed in the draws in eller and DD taking them more often then not all the while pleky who had a good night in the circle and nokia who went a perfect 4-0 were sitting on the bench. I know there are some occasions you can’t change like on the icing calls which i was taking into consideration but these were after the goalie freezing the puck in our own end. JM keeps preaching puck control,but puck control starts by winning draws which he should have his best guys out there taking the draws as often as possible. Especially in both offensive and defensive zones.

He doesn’t need to skate the whole game. Just take the defensive zone draw,break out and get off. I watched ron wilson do it with steckel over and over again on saturday night. There was a glaring example and the end of the 2nd period with 10 seconds left and a faceoff in the offensive zone. He had DD taking the draw,he lost it clean and the period is over. If he has pleky taking the draw it creates a scoring chance. Heck,its not like teams haven’t done it to us a bunch of times.

Hi there HH. Couldn’t help but drop by for a moment and ask how come Dorksie and Douche aka Chorskie and Berkshire are suddenly so quiet? Funny how they’re not so argumentative now when you and most of the HIO commentariat speak of a need for size and grit. I really don’t miss wasting my time with these two. For the record, you’re totally right about them tanking, it’s about time. So long.

Gaustad wouldn’t look so bad on our 4th line right about now huh Dorksie?

I guess what you mean is “how much he thinks he knows” (in reality not more than most people on HIO), it’s just that he makes lots of noise until he gets some bandwagoners, not a chance of that happening now so the double act of silliness that Douche and Dorskie are has gone quiet, lucky for all the HIO commentariat, it must be much more pleasant!

Well, they can speak for themselves but AB still posts regularly at EOTP. Yes, we lost, but outshot Florida and out-chanced them 13 – 7 at ES; therefore, not all the shot differential was because of perimeter shooting. Fundamentally, the team is playing well but it’s not reflected on the scoreboard. There are some things that even the stats people would trouble with: using DD more than Eller, the pulling of the goalie, sending DD out over Nokia for a crucial F/O, to mention a few.

I’ll say it again: if the team makes changes because they feel they must “do something,” there’s a good chance we might end up worse off. We only need to think back to the Houle-Tremblay era. Pat Burns, Claude Julien and Michel Therrien were all let go by the Canadiens and went on to win Stanley Cups with other teams. Alain Vigneault got to the SC finals with another team. Their replacements didn’t bring us to the Promised Land. We don’t want to pull anything like the trade of Patrick Roy all over again.

Whatever we do, let it be done rationally and only after a thorough consideration of al factors; if we decide to let people go, let’s make sure there are GOOD potential replacements out there.

If this is the players fault ,BG and PG and JM are to blame because they brought the players here. If it’s the coaches fault it’s BG and PG’s fault because they hired him and JM’s fault because the game has passed him by. Were there computers when JM started coaching?

We have shots. Big deal. What ‘3 scoring lines’ have you seen? We’ve got 18 goals in 8 games, 10 of which came in two bizzarro world games where neither goalie stopped anything. That leaves 8 in 6 games.

No matter how well your goalie’s playing, it’s hard to win a game with just 1.33 goals.

I’ve said it before, Martin’s system has always been a bend don’t break style. Keep shots to the exterior, minimize scoring chances. That makes for a lot of shots against, but a lot of stoppable shots. This year most of our goals against are coming from the goal mouth, and deflections.

When we apply pressure and a forcheck, this team looks lost coming back. It leads me to believe that the system requires (at all times) defensive position, and a quick transition to release style offence. Would it shock you that we have outshot all of our opponents in our losses, and won the one game we got outshot?

Martin’s panicking (see his curt responses after the Leafs game), so he’s probably saying he wants everything to the net. He doesn’t care how it gets there, he just wants it on net. And while Markstrom was doing his best Dominic Hasek impression, he was looking like a world beater.

As much as I love the players on the line, Gionta, Cammy, and Pleks won’t work as a line. It’s as close to a ‘size matters’ post that I’ll get. It’s not that they don’t have the talent, or creativity to thrive on a transition based offence, it’s just that once they get into the zone they don’t have options because they don’t have the puck retrieval of a Pacioretty or Cole.

Hiding (literally and figuratively) Desharnais in between Cole and Pacioretty is a bandaid. And it robs our other two ‘scoring lines’ of the puck retrieval that makes sustained pressure possible.

Everyone’s raving about the chemistry between Desy (god bless him) and Patches. But frankly, if you’re a centerman with a winger who’s 6’2″, 200lbs, skates fast, drives to the net, retrieves the puck, shoots well (need I go on?) and you don’t have chemistry with him, you’ve got problems.

Desharnais has looked slow, and gets muscled off the puck frequently. He’s looked better with our two pressure wingers, but so would Pleks or Lars.

Lastly, Mathieu Darche had a couple minutes on the power play and so did Desharnais. While Andrei Kostitsyn, much maligned as he’s been over his tenure in Montreal, is still a proven 20 goal scorer in this league, he had 0 seconds of PP time. Eller, who has looked like he’s on the verge of a breakthrough (if he didn’t have to rely on Moen’s hands) had 0 seconds of PP time.

Players who should be helping this team succeed aren’t being put in positions to succeed. It took an uppity woman (sorry, Jess, I actually loved your question and I think a lot of other people did too, but this is for effect) to get Martin to put Cole on the PP, and all of the sudden we got our first (!!!) 5 on 4 power play goal of the season (1 5 on 4 PP goal in 8 miserable games).

Martin’s system, his unwillingness to help players succeed, and his unwillingness to even give them a chance, are the biggest problems facing this team right now.

This was the ‘easy’ portion of our schedule, lots of non-playoff teams (or at least, teams we should be taking points from), now we’ve got an absolute gauntlet to run in Philadelphia, Boston (who are no doubt ornery about their slow start, and who better to vent their frustrations), and the Rangers.

All in all, the Fail for Nail is on. I guess we’ll finally get that 1A talent that Montreal has lacked since the 70s. The bad part is that we’re going to have to endure hell to get there.

Agree 100% We have to get an upgrade at the centre position. This DD experiment needs to end. Don’t care how nice a guy blah blah blah, upgrade the centre position. We have zero puck possession, as I rambled about in my post below.

I agree with alot of your points.
If there was one thing I’d like to see different going into the next week, it would be for someone to stop the confusion. The size of the players cannot be the issue. Buffalo is smaller than MTL. Whatever is causing the confusion in our zone has got to go. The PP will take care of itself, it’s the same guys on it as last year. One thing is for sure. If they don’t beat Philly or Bos this week, JM will be pounding the street and so will the rest of his staff.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Yes – this team has quit on their coach. also – they don’t have enough good players, they are too small and have no passion. Its caught up to them – this Euro love affair, no grit, no size..etc…opponents come into our barn with their chests puffed out cause they can and smack us around…pretty sure our team is run by fools…like a rich kid who inherits his dad’s business – still makes a ton of money but doesn’t mean you have any clue what you are doing….I’m embarrassed…are we gonna wait for this team to get SH%$%T kicked vs. Philly and Bos x 2 before something gets done…

I think that we look most pathetic in our attempts to carry the puck through all five opposition players trap. There didn’t seem to be much thought given to a dump in or some other effective method to break the trap. I was happy to see Budaj play well.

The basic problem with this team has drafted poorly and so it relies on too many UFAs, which means older players that you have to overpay to get (especially if you’re a Quebec-based team). Cammy/Gionta/Cole/Pleks–all are fine players but they’re each paid about $1 million/yr too much. You add in some bone-headed signings like Spacek and bad drafts and you have a team that is up against the cap but has a bunch of B- to B+ players–but no real gamebreakers (unless you count Price).
That’s the foundation of the problem.
The specific problems over the summer were:
a) a philosophical decision not to toughen up. Hence no signing of someone like Zenon Konopka. Personally I hate fighting and wish it were banned but you have to live with reality. There has to be one credible deterrent on the team but this team doesn’t have anyone who’s remotely tough.
b) A riverboat gambler’s decision to go with a completely unproven centre like Engqvist. I’m all for going with youth but there was way too little indication he could play an important role over 80 games.
c) a decision to once again burden offensive skill players with PK duty–linked with points a and b. A Konopka or Halpern could have lightened the load on Pleks/Cammy/Gionta who should be saved for scoring goals.
d) another strange decision that we could get by with just three top-four defensemen: Markov/Subban/Gorges. Let’s be realistic, on a good team the rest of the defense wouldn’t be top four players, including Gill/Spacek and the youngsters. The first too are okay as a third pairing or as depth but are over the hill and/or limited. The young players are great and I’m excited by Diaz/Weber/Emelin in the long run but they’re not yet top four material. (As for Camponi, he’s a limited player brought in after Markov was injured so you can’t count him as part of the original plan.) So you’re left with three top-four defensemen, one of whom, Subban, was ripe for a sophomore slump and the other two were coming off career-threatening injuries. Going with this mix strikes me as recklessness coupled with wishful thinking.

So that’s it: years of bad drafting coupled with a lack of urgency this past summer has led to the current debacle.
Solution: the owners need to clean house. Whether it’s best to do this now or end of the year is not my call. But if I were Molson I’d require PG to run all trades past the owners so he doesn’t trade away draft picks to save his skin.

Mike mentioned some point estimates in terms of what it might take to rally and squeeze into the playoffs. It may be doable but the biggest deterrent is the impact of three point games. It really tends to level out the playing field over the course of an 82 game season.

Secondly, some people wonder why Martin used Darche on the PP. I think there are three reasons for this unusual move. Every PP needs a player who digs and fights for pucks to help maintain possession. This increases the chances for the finishers. Using Darche also is an attempt to wake up the guys who aren’t producing but are paid large sums of money to do so. The shame factor, if you will. Lastly, I think it’s a bit of desperation, just like when Carbo put TTB on the PP.

24 Cups,
On your first point – I figure the team needs to get 10 pts every 8 games for the rest of the season to be in playoff contention. Very possible – we just need to avoid back-to-back losses for the rest of the season.

Can anyone check to see if any of last year’s 16 playoff teams had a six game losing streak?

This doesn’t directly answer your question but the best comparison might be New Jersey’s record last season. They started just like we have and then turned it around. Even then, they came up short by 12 points (81) in terms of trying to catch the Rangers for 8th spot (93).

I agree with u on how he’s using darche only for your first point. He using him because he goes to the net and works hard. Don’t think jm thought that much far ahead as to shame the other players into playing a better game.

3 Point games are killers. This current structured team will not compete for the Chalice without Markov and another Centreman and while we are shopping at least 2-3 energy/grit players. The current philosophy (assuming there is one) which PG and JM have is simply not working.

Gauthier and Martin are having a meeting at 10am.
They will determine which city and franchise that they will target to build their next dynasty team, if the league goes back to the old NHL rules and salary cap. They are so excited!

You are going to have an uphill struggle here if you don’t respect everyone’s right to write what they want, Ian has been here since the beginning and has contributed wisdom and humour every day. Why don’t you take care of what you contribute and let others worry about themselves. Makes the day shorter…

It’s called confusion. When there is a break down, it’s because of confusion. Maybe the message on the ‘sysytem’ is getting lost in space or something. There seems to be alot of confusion in the ‘D’ zone. It’s not just the new guys either. It’s the new guys, old guys and the goalies. That, to me, would indicate that the assistant coaches are not getting the message through.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

What is wrong? JM is still the coach and no Kirk Muller. Last year at the end of the game with the time out situation the guys would be listening attentively to Kirk. He had a plan. What did we see last night. The fool on the hill standing perfectly still. Look at the power play. The guys listened to Kirk because he had the passion of a Canadien and the KNOWLEDGE. It’s called respect.

So what do the Canadiens do now as Boone says?
Nothing at all, let our team keep sucking and most fans on this site and worldwide who support the Habs realize this team is doing nothing to make it a Stanley Cup Contender.
Start unloading players and make trades now for draft picks and young prospects and realize we have to rebuild this team back to glory if that is the solution.
If not, expect dark days and years coming back to haunt our Montreal Canadiens, it’s happening.

Yup, it’s great we have so much trust in our Montreal Canadiens. Rise together as they say!

I wasn’t on the can JM bandwagon at first, but I am now:
*I think Boone is right, the players haven’t given up on their coach, but when they lose 5 in a row at home, where the coach get’s to exercise his matchup prowess against the opposing team’s weakness as he has the final say of who goes on the ice (with the exception of icing faceoffs), then there’s something wrong with the coach.
*Yes, we’ve outshot our opponents in all games but two, however, if the players are buying into JM’s sytem to take lots of low percentage shots when no one’s driving the net, then they are being sold the wrong system. There’s something wrong with the coach.
*It took JM 8 games to put Cole on the PP, and look at the result – he scored. JM should be eating his words from Saturday night, citing Cole’s stats from last year (a different team, coach, system). There’s something wrong with the coach.
*It’s the coaches job to form lines that will gel, but creating constant confusion is costing the team a losing streak of epic proportions. There’s something wrong with the coach.

I said it back in September, and I’ll say it again. Muller was the driving force for the Habs mediocre success the last two years. I knew letting him walk would be detrimental to the team’s success. And it is. There’s something wrong with the management.

♪Your cares and troubles are gone. There’ll be no more from now on. From now on happy days are here again, the skies above are so clear again. So let’s sing a song of cheer again. Happy times, happy nights, happy days are here again♪

Here’s my theory. The greatest franchise in hockey history is actually the most mediocre franchise in hockey today. It’s not rocket science. The Habs weaknesses have been apparent since the pre-season.

Not enough depth at centre. No push back. No grit. No 4th line of significance. Too many players too small to build an NHL team with. Nothing on the back end that any NHL team can’t just walk right through.

Seeing DD and Gionta getting bowled over is all the proof I need.

The problem with this team is laid out right before our very eyes by Boone himself. Boone and all the Habs press corps is the problem. Fans are the problem. Our history is the problem. Well folks. The Habs do tank.

Too many years have been spent not building a championship team but building a team that makes the play-offs. It’s always been about swindling the fans. The Habs are charlatans and snake oil salesmen. Habs fans are 8th place play-off junkies.

Oh I know. There is still much future to mortgage and there is plenty of time to scrap eternity on a fickle fan base who want everything now, now, now.

Hi there HH. Couldn’t help but drop by for a moment and ask how come Dorksie and Douche aka Chorskie and Berkshire are suddenly so quiet? Funny how they’re not so argumentative now when you and most of the HIO commentariat speak of a need for size and grit. I really don’t miss wasting my time with these two. For the record, you’re totally right about them tanking, it’s about time. So long.

Gaustad wouldn’t look so bad on our 4th line right about now huh Dorksie?

Martin says focus on the positives andd forget the negatives? Well sorry JM, ur team is basically 1-7 (3-13 including preseason), where are the posiives, how do we forgot the negatives. What I don’t get is why jm didn’t use nokelien (or however you spell it) for important faces if he is good at them. As much as I hate to reference it, Ron Wilson puts steckel on to win a draw then he gets off, but oh is that not jm style. This guys needs that ticket out, this season is painful and about to get worse with philly and boston *2.

I don’t buy that the players aren’t playing for JM.
You want to see a team that’s given up on their coach? Look at the Pens in Therrien’s last days.
There are definite issues, which I’ll talk about more later, but ‘giving up on the coach’ isn’t one of them.

I agree they haven’t quit, but I think they recognize the “System” has flaws.

If were not going to get rid of JM, lets at least get him a tablet to use on the bench but get a worm installed and lets get to finally see what he writing down. I am at the point where I am more curious to see what he is writing than knowing the secret to how Caramilk fills the center of the chocolate.

Just a contrast between two teams from Saturday and Monday. When PK tried to hit Grabovski there was someone there immediately to let PK that’s a no no. Last night Desharnais was hammered and noone was there to stick up for a second year player who also is one of the smallest guys on the ice.

Shot Totals For and Against really don’t mean much compared to Scoring Chances. I don’t consider a Brian Gionta shot from 4 feet above the goal line in the corner a scoring chance.

The defence was okay last night. This team however, cannot score goals. We need a sustained attack in the offensive zone, this creates pressure, scoring chances and draws penalties.

The reason Eller’s line is getting some of that is he is a 6′ foot center at 200lb’s with some skill. He can actually carry a puck in the offensive zone, battle for it and help maintain puck possession.

Plex is a very very good two way player, but is not a #1 center from an offensive perspective. Lars Eller is on his way to becoming perhaps an excellend 2 line center, but we have no #1 center to help us in the offensive zone.

DD is a nice story, plays hard, has nice skills but shouldn’t be a top 3 center on this team if we actually believe we can compete in the playoffs with a goal of the Stanley Cup.

Scott Gomez for all his detractors is a better option than DD, but again provides no puck possession help for our team once in the offensive zone.

This team needs another larger skilled center. We have some talented wingers in Gionta, Cammy, AK, MaxPac, Cole. But we need a puck possession Centre that can distribute the puck to them.

Lars Eller still in his developmental stage is shining brightly because he is the only one able to do so. Plex would be far more effective if other teams wouldn’t be able to focus all their attention on him and his line.

How do you get a center? GM’s have to figure that out, at this point I would try a Kyle Turris.

Either this team makes some moves to improve now or we have to wait until a high draft choice or young developing talent can be called up or used as trade bait to acquire, but we have to get a true center. Eller may become good, but with no disrespect probably won’t become a 70 point centreman like we need in order to compete.

Oh yah, JM is past his due date, let him and his payout expire in the Ottawa Valley. PG wake up, make a decision, and then don’t screw up what talent we have left while we find a new GM.

I believe that this may be as depressed about the team as I have ever been in 40+ years of watching them.

I’m not one to loose faith in the team or ever be a bandwagon jumper (though a tall building might serve, these days). The depression is due to the expectations that many of us had for this team.

I was one who really believed they had (and still have) the skills to be a competitor. I’ve always hated reading the comments from the doomsayers. If you’re a fan of the team, support them. I’m not saying that you cannot find fault with your team, but just as everything they do cannot be right, so is the opposite true.

Boone states that he does not believe they have given up on the coach. I guess that I don’t either, but I still believe that he needs to go. I don’t believe that the defensive scheme he is know for suits this team, especially with the decimation of the D as it looked coming into camp.

I could go on, but have to get ready for work and I think I’ve made my point. Find a replacement and hire him. Now, please.

AT this point and time we screw Martin got a years left + one mil.. pay out but if you look at the Devils they had to change coaches to turn the team around last year .The scary part with the next 3 game is how many players gone a get hurt ,they gone a be desperate for a win and both those teams will target PK big time .Muller know this team best so why not and Gauthier secret service should joint Martin

The team actually played very well. They just couldn’t buy a goal, as they couldn’t last week against Buffalo. I’m not going criticize anyone’s performance last night, since I don’t think there was anyone on the team who wasn’t giving it everything he had. But they must have been depressed as hell afterwards. I hope the response tomorrow night is not what it was against Pittsburgh last week. Play hard, and I firmly believe they’ll win another game some day, maybe next month, at any rate sometime before Christmas.

As for firing Jacques Martin, while I would love the Habs to get a young, dynamic coach who would have better ideas than using Darche on every powerplay and Desharnais when we need to win a key faceoff, I just don’t think there’s anyone at all out there I’d like to see behind the bench. And panic moves don’t work. But management needs to be looking hard for the guy they want for next year. When they’ve identified him, they need to go out and get him. Same goes for a new GM.

I hope there isn’t a strike next year. This season is doomed; I would hate not even to be able to look forward to a better one next year.

I’d love Muller, but he doesn’t speak French and he has a job. So does Roy, who anyway is far too unstable. I’m thinking management must have some plan for a post-Jacques Martin era. There must be someone out there they’ve got their eye on, maybe someone in the Q or elsewhere in junior.

Someone yesterday suggested Guy Carbonneau. I disagree because he hasn’t shown that he can cope with adversity. He was fine when the team was going well, but at an absolute loss when they imploded after the All-Star break, even confessing to the media at one point that he had no solutions. On the other hand, a tandem of Muller and Carbonneau might work.

Habs have been dreadful… It amazes me at how inept the Habs have been at trading in the off-season. It’s the same old story… Little guys forward, SAME defence as last year!

If you haven’t won the cup, why are you sticking to the same guns as last year? Get some fresh and good blood, not 3rd line players that will give an average performance. Get stars!!!!! We have the money, we are not Columbus or Nashville, we are a franchise team with a great hockey history and Montreal is a beautiful place to live and be a hockey player (if you are winning!).

Ok, so it’s not EXACTLY the same defense, but we got the same problems. Hal Gill is slow, Gorges and Spacek are prone to injuries. Weber can’t be counted really as a new trade, he was on and off from Hamilton last year.

But I just feel that the Habs have stalled. Let’s face it, the most notable acquisitions are Cole, Diaz and Campoli but are they REALLY names that can help this team reach the playoffs and maintain that focus when getting there considering none of them have notable playoff experience…

IMHO, The reason for a very very poor star is obivous. The team has not change since last season. On paper they got much better with Cole & Pacioretty back in the lineup. The overall problem with this team is JM. Period.

The main reason for Habs success last season was the team executed Kirk Muller’s game plan when the plan was drawn on a board. Kirk Muller ran both the PP & PK. Since his departure the is noone on the bench to communicate with the players. The team seems lost and those bench minors tells it all. Enough said.

JM YOUR FIRED!!!! Bring in coach’s that communicates with the players and speaks to all of them throughout the game. This team is going nowhere fast under the directions of this coaching staff.

Uh, guys. This is not funny anymore. Can we fire some people yet? Gainey, Gauthier, Martin? The Habs are the 2nd worst team in the bloody league. The special teams are horrible, the offense sucks, the goaltending sucks, the defense sucks. The only positive is, it’s early in the season. don’t kid yourselves, things could be over in a hurry, if nobody does anything. Look at what happened to Jersey last year.

I’ve been calling for management’s head for years, but now I’m really serious about it.

Wow, unbelievable after the last 2 years we had…heroics of Halak, Cammy’s playoff heroics, Price’s near Vezina and Pks near Calder. This team is littered with long term contracts that were once looking so good.

We still have Cammalleri and I have always been a big fan of Plekaneks. It was only a matter of time before CONTINUOUSLY losing D man after Dman before the whole thing came crashing down. Streit, Sourray, Wiz, Komi, Hammer, All lost over the years for nothing. It’s a sad reality.

So what’s there to do? There is really nothing to do. Are players are signed long term, we have no #2 center to put up any points (as good as Eller has been still not putting up points) and Price can’t score. This team could never score 5-5. Do you fore Jacques? And replace him with who? There is alot of money tied into this group.

It’s very sad but I almost want them to continue losing. Take this year to let the pieces fall and retool for next year. Would be nice to hear from Gauthier press conference or something or some direction. Here’s hoping we have something to look forward to going forward.

It’s gone from bad to worse over the last two games and it appears it will get downright ugly real soon. We are now a breath away from the blood letting. Who will it be? PG, JM or both? IMO the axe needs to fall before the Flyers arrive. But after another loss it will be a moot point because JM might abdicate and sneak out of town in a disguise. I’ll put myself through the near certain agony of watching the Habs try to match up against Philly… damn, I already dread the experience. The Flyers will be confident and agressive knowing the Habs are in freefall. A word of advice for Price – stop trying to be too cute with the puck -you’re not that good!

The players have too much pride to just throw it all away and not compete, but at the same time they are not getting along with Jacques Martin.

Erik Cole can’t get PP time. JM cites his low PPG production in Carolina last season, a PP that was 24th in the NHL. Mike Cammalleri, who is currently being wasted on the PK as JM tries to turn him into some kind of penalty-killing forward, he had 4 PPG in his first season here when the team’s PP was ranked 2nd in the NHL. The following season, his PP TOI/G went UP.

The veterans who have spent the last two seasons with JM are not exactly giving it all they have, they compete but their focus is not what it typically is. The newer guys out to prove their worth are generally going hard at it but even then JM doesn’t recognize their contributions at times. Eller is better than Desharnais at being a Top-6 pivot, he can power through the opposition, dig for the puck and shake off checkers. Nokelainen literally aced his faceoffs on the night but only got 4 chances to do so, Desharnais was 29% in the circle with 18 opportunities! Doug Jarvis would have done better with a pool cue.

They know they can make the other team feel dead tired at the end of each period trying to keep up with their speed and skill setup, but JM won’t let them press very often. Team defence is fine, players being expected to backcheck and cover assignments is proper but when you have the advantage in speed, in the modern NHL you need to take advantage of it. I think they’re tired of the other guys making them look slow and running over them as they try to play the trap when they know they ought to be making the other guys sweat a bit more.

I have seen it here and on Twitter about this so called bonus if he gets fired.. So F ing what.. it doesn’t count against the cap.. so crucify him at centre ice and get rid of PG while you are at it.. They may have not quit on the shot totals.. be really, after FLA tied it up you could see how it took the wind out of their sails.. come on.. there are only 2 faces of Martin.. the one with his hands in his pockets and the other is him preparing his shopping list for the Depaneur when the game is over.. ZERO emotion.. His firing is long overdue.

One thing i did find encouraging, albeit a small one as things are, is the play of AK with Eller. There was a moment near the end of the game last night when the camera panned across the habs bench and AK was in full discussion with, Eller?, anyway obviously discussing strategies on the game, when last year he would have been sulking and or smerking without a care in the world already tipping strippers at club supersex in his mind. It’s nice to see AK getting involved. Please JM don’t mess him up.

Just finished watching the game on Panthers replay. obvoiusly should have gone to bed. finally JM figures out Cole can play and prehaps his big body will help the PP in front of the net. What happened to Pac? Did not see anything. BTW the Florida announcers were saying that JM had trouble with “two many men penalties ” when with the Panthers when he was there. Is that something new or do we know that allready. The countdown for JM is nearing the end.

Although I do agree Martin has to go even the best coach I doubt can get very much out of this group. Way to many over paid players. Cammy gio Gomez plek Markov and now cole are eating up the cap and next we have price and subban to give raises to… I don’t know where this team is going

The Bulldogs usually blow 5 or more past this guy. Get the puck off the ice. Make him move. Shoot like an NHLer.

The System sucks. It’s sucked for a while. It was playing with fire. Now it’s really showing. And those dinky perimeter shots…and the quick whistles costing them a goal (I think 2)…loved the crowd booing when Eller’s line was called off for a line change as they were heading for the offensive zone. We ain’t stupid. At least they finally boxed out somewhat properly on D and somewhat controlled traffic a little better by the net. They still messed up though.

You know, there hasn’t really been a sunny game day since the season started? It was sunny this morning. I was optimistic. Then it started to pour cold nasty rain that smelled like fish just as I left work right before the game. I got soaked. The weather is unhappy with the Habs. Perhaps the balance of all life is currently swirling into the depths of despair? A sign? Remove the cardboard man behind the bench already and let’s clear the air a little? I’m even leaning on the “give McGuire a shot” train to tell him to put his (well Molson’s) money where his mouth is and show us that he’s as smart as he claims to be… Guh.

So Mr. Boone is a Martin apologist now? Didn’t seem that way last game with the comments about Darche on the PP.

He has to go. Period. Point finale. Most fans could’ve coached the team to their first win at home by now. Come now, first time in 102 years the Canadiens haven’t won at home, and the coach, who has been criticized on several occasions (and rightfully so) is just a victim of circumstance? Lets give it a rest already, it’s time for some changes, and that starts (and maybe ends) with JM punching his ticket out of Montreal.

Personally I think it’s luck for a bunch of guys and some just not playing to their potential. Thoughts on tonight
– Cole’s best game, but even then he just couldn’t bury it, something he HAS to do
– Eller/Moen/AK are a beast of a line…they were stopped by strong goaltending and Tim Peel’s penchant for early whistles
– Whenever we make a good scoring play, the pass never comes to someone open even though the pass is good. People aren’t reading where they should be. This is the only thing I think they can change.
– Spacek was good. He’s an asset as much as we sometimes have little faith in him. Against bigger teams, well he takes the hit to make the play. I appreciate that.
– Cammy’s passes were just a bit off and enough to cost us about two goals. Then again he’s being playing as a defensive fwd so I can understand how he’s so gassed.

– In a world where one goal makes a difference between a win and a loss (we’ve had many one-goal losses this season, just as in years passed we’ve sneaked out one goal wins). This is a matter of luck, but yes I’d like to see a couple of guys be a little more clutch. I wasn’t worried until today. The Toronto loss hurt, specially their whining about Gio the headhunter, but today I’m actually worried that the points are slipping away. We have a talented bunch and it’s just little mistakes not an overall team fail but that’s how it is obviously perceived. Different perspectives I guess. You might create your own luck, but so do the other teams. Lotta bounces going THEIR way.

I still have hope, but purely because of the character of the guys on our team. I also don’t blame JM. Gionta can do a little more…channel some Koivu perhaps.

You know management needs to take a good look at how things are run when the manager has a clause of a million dollar for early termination, that’s on top of paying out the rest of the contract. Imagine a $1.000.000 BONUS for getting FIRED! That’s twighlight zone material right there. No wonder Martin don’t give a rats’ @$$

Yah I can’t imagine PK is looking forward to those 3 games. Absolutely Emelin plays Diaz sits. Agree on Schultz for Boston games, perhaps not Philly. Pronger is out and Philly is a much more skilled less bruising team this year compared to last couple.

Not sure about Henry, but perhaps we do that and sit Spacek. You know when Spacek plays BOston he gets destroyed. It is almost just self preservation now.